It's hard to keep up with all the latest moves across media, marketing and advertising, so we've made a list. Check out the biggest moves in adland this week.
Zenith appoints global brand president
Publicis Media CEO ANZ Matt James has been named as the Zenith global brand president. James has been in Australia since 2012 when he relocated from the UK for a stint at Nine in Sydney. He went on to join Zenith as chief executive officer in 2015 before joining Publicis Media in 2016. James brings more than 28 years of experience to the role. Read more here.
Dentsu X Australia undergoes leadership shuffle
Dentsu X MD Angela Tangas is leaving the business for a larger role within the Dentsu Aegis Network in February. She will take on the new role of executive director of businesses operations, managing DAN's new Capability Shared Services division – a client first, solution led, centre within the business. Before joining Dentsu X, Angela spent two years at iSelect as its group executive. She will be replaced by Carat's chief strategy officer Sam Hegg who has been in the business for close to a decade. Read more here.
Nine rehires former digital boss
Former Nine digital boss Alex Parsons is returning to the company to help sell Fairfax Media's event business. Parsons was previously the chief digital and marketing officer at Nine from 2014 – 2017. Since leaving Nine, he’s become the non-executive director for IAB, Pedestrian.TV and CarAdvice.com. He also spent nine months as Adcorp CEO in 2018. While there he led a restructure of the business to return it to growth, following a difficult period for the agency. Parsons says he will leverage his skills and experience within the Nine network to help deliver a strong outcome for both Nine and buyers. Read more here.
News Corp restructures leadership team
News Corp announced changes to its leadership team as part of an alignment of its digital and print assets. Former Suncorp CMO Mark Reinke joins as MD of consumer and will take on all responsibilities of the previous CMO role, which has now been scrapped. In internal changes at the business, COO Damian Eales has his regional and community role expanded to include The Australian, News Prestige titles and NewsDNA. NewsDNA MD Julian Delany adds sport, travel, wagering and gaming to his role while NSW MD Michael Wilkins moves into the new role of MD for sport, wagering and gaming. The Australian CEO Nicolas Gray also becomes the MD for NSW, as well as for News Prestige titles. All changes will be effective February 2019. Read more here.
Publicis Groupe names new CEO
Michael Rebelo has been named Publicis Groupe CEO across Australia and New Zealand. Rebelo, formerly the CEO of Publicis Communications, will oversee both the creative and media side of the business following the departure of Matt James. Rebelo previously had an extensive career at Saatchi & Saatchi since joining the business in 2001 as general manager. He worked across New Zealand, London, Singapore and Australia while with the company before moving into Publicis Communications in 2017. Read more here.
Coles appoints Tourism Australia CMO
Tourism Australia CMO Lisa Ronson announced she is leaving the business to take on the same role at Coles. Ronson, who has been with the business since 2015, led a number of award-winning Tourism Australia marketing campaigns, including Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns, which received a Titanium Lion award at the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival. She previously had experience at Westpac, David Jones and Telstra. She takes on a more complex role at Coles and will begin in March. Read more here.
SCA CCO Guy Dobson departs
Southern Cross Austereo CCO Guy Dobson departed from his role after more than 10 years with the business. Dobson has been in the role since 2015. He was previously the CEO of Austereo Group from 2009 – 2015 before it was acquired by Southern Cross Media. Following the merger, he stepped into the creative role. Dobson said he is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Read more here.
72andSunny hires Ugly co-founder
72andSunny named Ross Berthinussen as its Sydney executive strategy director. Berthinussen previously co-founded Ugly, which closed its doors in September 2018. He also worked at M&C Saatchi Sydney as head of strategy before opening the creative agency. Originally from the UK, Berthinussen also spent almost a decade at BBH London where he was responsible for global brands such as British Airways, Lynx and Mentos.
Specsavers poaches from Initiative for media planner
Former Initiative Melbourne MD Shaun Briggs has been named as Specsavers' new head of marketing planning. Briggs headed Initiative in Melbourne since 2016. Before joining Initiative he spent four years at Dentsu Mitchell as its head of client services. He has also previously worked at MediaCom.
Wavemaker boosts leadership team
Wavemaker Asia-Pacific has added three new hires to its leadership team. Gordon Domlija branches out from his role in China to become the regional president. He adds the title of chairman for Wavemaker China to his role and will continue to directly support key clients in China. Allison Coley, currently the MD of client solutions in Hong Kong, is promoted to CEO in North Asia while Rose Huskey, currently MD of client solutions in Singapore, is promoted to CEO of South East Asia.
PHD promotes Lucy Formosa Morgan
Lucy Formosa Morgan has been promoted to chief investment officer and commercial officer at PHD. Formosa Morgan has spent seven and a half years at the business, working for brands such as Unilever, ANZ and Volkswagen Group. In her new role she will continue to sit on PHDs executive team and report to CEO Mark Coad.
Sport Australia adds new board member
Foxtel chief commercial officer Amanda Laing has been appointed to the Sport Australia board. The government sports body is responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance and leadership for sporting activity in Australia. Before joining Foxtel as a consultant in 2017, Laing worked at the NRL, Telstra, Sky News, Nine and Pedestrian.TV.
Cornwell CEO steps down
CEO Sally Dobell has resigned from the brand design agency Cornell to take on new challenges. Before her departure she will work closely with Jessica Murphy who has been promoted to general manager from her role as content strategy director and will take on additional management responsibilities. In addition to these changes, ECD Quan Payne also resigned from the business to pursue other interests.
Mammamia grows team
Mammamia has added four new members to its team. Former Cosmopolitan editor Lorna Gray joins as head of features. Gray, who worked at the now defunct magazine, also previously worked at Dolly and Cleo. PwC's Hannah Mansur joins the business as senior manager of partners solutions. Aimee Jenkins, who was formerly News Corp media sales manager, will step into the role of business development manager of social squad, Mamamia Media Group’s new influencer and social media management agency. Amelia Navascues joins as podcast producer. Navascues was previously at Triple J as its movie and TV reviewer.
Quantcast promotes Michael Ricciardone
Michael Ricciardone has been promoted to group head of agency sales at the technology company Quantcast. He was previously senior sales manager for two years at the business. Ricciardone also has previous experience at Nine as group business manager and News Corp as account executive.
SBS appoints digital sales role
SBS has appointed Audience 360's Michael Sparsi as its digital sales manager in Victoria. With more than 10 years of experience, Sparsi’s responsibilities at the broadcaster include developing SBS Media's digital strategy. In additional to working at Audience 360 as account director, he has previously worked at Fairfax Media, Telstra and OMD.
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